All She Wanted
by DramaLexy
Summary: An impossible promise leads to an unexpected challenge. Kara centric, but everyone else makes appearances. Season 2, post 'Final Cut', but ignores all the episodes that came after. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: All She Wanted

AUTHOR: DramaLexy

DISCLAIMER: Oh, man, if they were mine...(for starters, the rest of season two would begin next month, not next year) But they're not, so don't sue.

SUMMARY: An impossible promise leads to an unexpected challenge. Kara-centric, but everyone else makes appearances. Season 2, post-"Final Cut", but ignores all the episodes that came after.

DISTRIBUTION: Sure, if you want it. Just let me know where.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first fic of length that I've done in recent memory that wasn't a shippy thing, so I'm not exactly sure how it came out. Feedback would be much appreciated; I'll attempt to incorporate suggestions that are made.

* * *

It had been an impossible promise when Kara made it, and both she and Anders knew it – she was in no position to decide whether or not a return mission to Caprica would be made, especially considering the fact that she was AWOL when she gave the former C-Buck her word. And yet, because of political motives in the fleet, she was going to be able to keep her promise.

After the documentary on Galactica began being shown in the fleet, approval ratings for President Roslin and Commander Adama began to go back up again. Not everyone in the fleet was happy, though, and one Quorum member decided to stir things up with a bit of knowledge that he'd overheard on Kobol – there were survivors on Caprica and possibly the other colonies that had been left behind. Suddenly the fleet was in an uproar and Galactica was planning a mission back to Caprica. If it was a success, efforts to find resisters on other worlds would be made.

"This isn't a rescue mission," Kara snapped at Tigh as they, Lee, Adama, and Helo stood around planning board. "Some of the people may want out, but for a lot of them…fighting back, defending their homes, and disrupting the Cylons' plans are what they're all about. They're not looking to be 'rescued' from Caprica; they just need a little bit of help."

"Their efforts are nothing more than a pinprick to the Cylons," Tigh shot back.

"A pinprick can still make you bleed."

"They've managed this long," Adama broke in, ending their bickering with a sharp look to both his XO and pilot. "We can't supply them with more people, but we need to do whatever we can as far as weapons, medicines, and food. We will also offer the opportunity to get off the planet that they did not have during the attack…and we'll make sure they know that what we fight for is the survival of our race, not for the places that used to be our homes."

* * *

Lee wasn't too surprised when Kara volunteered to lead the mission to back Caprica. It was a bit more of a shock that Helo wanted to return to the wasteland of a planet, and the CAG was almost automatically suspicious when their 'pet Cylon' offered to go as well. Ignoring the fact that Sharon was a potentially very valuable asset, she was only a few days beyond her release from the medical station for a near-miscarriage. Lee didn't understand why she would put herself and her child back in the dangerous situation on Caprica unless she had an ulterior motive.

"Maybe she just realizes, like the rest of us, that the knowledge she has and we don't could be of use to the mission," Kara told Lee as they worked out together.

"Or the knowledge she has and we don't could screw us over."

"Hey, as long as Helo is on the mission along with her, she's not going to let anything happen to him, and as an extension of that, to the rest of the team."

"You've got a lot of faith considering she's a Cylon." Kara shrugged.

"Yeah, well, she's proven herself somewhat helpful so far."

"Mmm…I denied your request to be leader of the expedition to Caprica," Le switched gears. Kara sat straight up, her eyes flashing.

"Me and Helo are the only officers you've got that know what it's like on that planet!"

"I know."

"Right, but you're still saying no? Who the frak is going to lead it instead? No one else even knows how to pilot the Heavy Raider."

"Oh, you'll be piloting, but you won't be in charge. I will." Kara's mouth opened, but no sound came out. "I don't ever think I've heard you speechless, Starbuck."

"Y-you're leading the expedition? The Old Man actually okayed that?"

"More or less."

"He's letting his senior most pilots go on one fairly suicidal op together?"

"Yeah…so I guess we better not get ourselves killed."

* * *

The plan was pretty straightforward: get back to Caprica, get past Cylon defenses and land at the resistance base, offload supplies, provide assistance as needed, and retrieve anyone who wanted to join the fleet, and then head home. Not simple, most likely not easy, but straightforward. Kara, Lee, Helo, Sharon, and a few marines loaded into the Heavy Raider, cleared the fleet, and made the long jump away to enemy territory – and what used to be home.

The first sign they got that things probably wouldn't have a happy ending was the cloud of smoke in the sky as Kara brought the ship into an approach path for the old high school that served as a base for the resistance. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was most likely on fire.

They didn't land outside of the base; they landed outside of a smoking pile of debris. A few bodies were littered around outside and once the team was sure the perimeter was secure, they began checking to see if any of them were actually still alive.

"Starbuck!" Helo called across the courtyard from his spot kneeling beside one of the casualties. Satisfied that she woman she'd found had no pulse, Kara headed over to her friend and her eyes welled as she realized whom he had found.

"H-hey," Anders barely managed to croak as she dropped to his side. "Y-you came back."

"I promised I would, didn't I?"

"Y-yeah." A shaking hand reached for the chain around his neck and revealed that he still had her dog tag. Lee watched them from a few meters away, sufficiently able to read into Kara clutching this unknown man's hand between hers and her tears that were about to spill.

"What happened here?" she asked, flinching slightly when Anders coughed and a little stream of blood begin trickling from his mouth.

"Guess th-they weren't too happy about that farm we blew last week."

"Did anyone survive? Did anybody get away?" Anders shook his head, starting to cough again.

A noise suddenly came from somewhere in the wreckage, a low whimpering cry, and the Marines were instantly off trying to determine the source. Kara noticed as the look on Anders' face changed, even as he began to lose his fight for survival. Surprise, confusion, and something else that she couldn't pinpoint.

"Th-the girls…" he whispered to no one in particular before drawing in a final breath. Kara gently closed his eyes and took a moment to collect herself before taking her tag back from around his neck and getting up.

"You okay?" Helo asked her, starting to put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off.

"I'm fine."

"Captain!" One of the marines called, and the whole group made their way over to where they were standing. "There's something here." In the silence that followed that statement, they could all hear the noise from before coming from under the rubble. Without hesitation, Sharon stepped forward and started moving pieces away. Helo grabbed her.

"Are you nuts?" he asked her.

"It would take three of you to carry the same weight," she matter-of-factly told him.

"You're a week out of the Life Station! Humor me and pretend to just be human; you used to be really good at it." Sharon smiled at that little barb, knowing it had been said in teasing, not malice.

* * *

She hadn't been exaggerating; it took three or four of the marines to move the other pieces of wall. They uncovered what had been a stairwell to the basement and when Kara and Lee shone flashlights down into it, they discovered two figures at the bottom. "Leave us alone!" a little girl, who had to be about six or seven, cried. She was protectively holding a baby of about a year's age. "We didn't do anything to you!"

"We're here to help you," Lee tried to tell her. "We're from the Colonial Fleet; we're military officers."

There was a moment of pause, then, "You promise?" her little voice asked. Inside, Kara had a moment of anger over the fact that the Cylons were impersonating officers on the planet; the trust the child was placing in their titles could have easily been unfounded.

"Promise," she told the little girl. "You can come out. We've got food, and we can fix you up if you're hurt." That offer was considered, and the child began climbing up the stairs with her baby sibling. A second before Kara could have touched her something happened that no one had predicted: the little girl saw Sharon. And freaked.

"You ARE Cylons! You lied!" she cried, pulling back away and retreating into her hiding space. "Go away! Leave us alone!" Kara followed her, getting a grip on her shoulders and stopping her.

"Hey, hey, listen to me! First thing you have to realize about life nowadays is that most things aren't the way that they appear. You've seen other Cylons that look like her?" The girl nodded. "They attacked here?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, and just now, she was trying to help us rescue you. She is a Cylon, but she's not like other Cylons. I know how you feel, because I've been tricked into thinking that other Cylons were humans, but let me tell you something, okay?"

"Okay."

"If we were Cylons, we'd probably be here to make sure everyone at this base really was taken out. There would be a couple Centurions up there that more than likely would have killed you by now. So can you trust me based on the fact that we're still standing here talking with each other?" She nodded. "All right. What's your name?"

"Erin."

"How about her?" Kara asked, indicating the baby.

"Lachel."

"My name's Kara; that's Lee and that's Helo," she pointed. "They're my friends. Are you guys hungry?"

"Yeah."

* * *

TBC...

How's it going so far? (push the little blue button!)


	2. Chapter 2

The sight of the Heavy Raider had produced a few tense moments, but Erin had allowed them to get her and her toddler sister seated on the back hatch and they accepted the food they were given. Kara sat in the front of the vehicle, idly playing with her dog tags and staring off at nothing. She looked up, however, when Lee sat down with her.

"What are the chances?" he asked.

"Chances of what?"

"Of finding anyone else…Is the risk we're taking worth any reward we might get?"

"No…Anders didn't say there was anyone. Their numbers were going down already; hitting them all probably wasn't that difficult once they were found." Lee didn't need to ask who Anders was; he'd read her report from her first trip to Caprica. He'd learned on this trip that there were apparently a few things that had been edited out of said report, but knew this wasn't the time to confront Kara about it.

"We should check over the site again…and then head out. The less time we're here, the less chance of getting ambushed ourselves."

Kara nodded. "Agreed. Erin and Lachel probably need to get checked out by actual doctors on Galactica." Lee was quiet. "You know we're taking them back. We're not leaving two kids alone on this planet."

"We're taking them back," he agreed, "I just…I don't know. Something's off. I just don't know what."

Kara looked to make sure Helo and Sharon weren't in earshot. "You don't trust anyone who's been left here," she observed.

"No, I don't trust anyone who's been left here with Cylons. Especially if they started frakking them."

* * *

Across the Raider from them, Erin had gotten up from her place beside her sister and went over to where Sharon was sitting on a rock. The child just stared at her for a long minute. "I'm not going to hurt you," Sharon finally said.

"Did you get left behind, too?" Erin asked at last.

"No. I'm the one who left…Did someone leave you behind?"

A nod. "In a cabin in the woods. We were there for so long and no one ever came back. I was afraid to leave. But then the others found us."

"You were lucky."

Lachel started whimpering behind them, and Erin turned to look at her sister. "I should go; she probably doesn't like when I leave her alone." Sharon nodded.

"Go ahead." As the little girl left, Helo came over.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah…there's something…something about her."

"Something like what?"

"I don't know…it's probably just me. I have some memories, but I myself haven't actually ever been around any children."

Helo offered a small smile. "Even without those two, that would have changed pretty quickly."

"Yeah."

One of the marines approached them. "We're getting ready to head out," he told them. Everyone started loading back into the Raider and getting ready to takeoff.

* * *

William Adama looked up from the reports that a petty officer had just handed him when he heard Lieutenant Gaeta's voice announcing that they'd just picked up a dradis contact.

"What have we got, Mr. Gaeta?"

"Cylon Heavy Raider, Sir."

"I've got a signal," Dualla reported, patching the transmission through.

"This is Apollo," Lee's voice filled the room. "Requesting permission to land."

"That was a quick op," Tigh commented as the LSO took over communications. "Either the stragglers really weren't willing to leave, or something happened."

"If I was one to guess," Adama replied, "I'd pick the latter. You have the CIC." With that he headed for the hangar deck.

* * *

The Heavy Raider was being pulled to a parking spot when he arrived. When the hatch opened, Adama was met with a sight he hadn't expected: his son carrying a sleeping little girl and his 'daughter' holding a baby. There were a few medical personnel standing by, and the children were transferred to their care, just as a pair of marines came to collect Sharon and return her to her cell.

"Are they all that were willing to come?" Adama asked his son.

"They were all that was left," Lee replied. He noticed out of the corner of his vision that Kara looked torn between going with Erin and Lachel and doing the post-flight, but she definitely didn't look like she wanted to be part of this conversation. He made a mental note to attempt talking with her later.

"Go ahead," he told his best friend, tipping his head in the direction of the medical staff members that were now heading for the exit. "Helo and I can do the post-flight."

"I can stay – " she started to protest, but he shook his head.

"Go ahead," Lee repeated, and wasn't too surprised to see her leave a moment later.

"What happened?" Adama asked his son once Kara was gone. Lee sighed.

"We walked straight into a slaughterhouse. And it looks like the only thing that saved those two was hiding in the rubble."

* * *

The doctors and techs in the Medical Bay had checked Erin and Lachel over thoroughly. They'd sustained a few cuts and scrapes in the attack on the resistance base, and were both malnourished and dehydrated, but they would be all right. Erin had refused to be separated from her sister, so the pair was curled up together on a bed when Kara pushed back the curtain that was around them and came to take a seat in the chair next to them. 

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Tired," Erin replied. "What happens to us now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where do we live? Here?"

"Well…Galactica is a battleship, so it's not really a good place for kids. Everyone's so busy all the time; it wouldn't really be fair to you. There's a ship in the fleet that's full of other kids, though, kids who have lost their parents." Erin looked up.

"We didn't lose them. They lost us." Kara wasn't quite sure what to say to that, and the more she thought about the orphan ship, the more rumors she remembered about how inept the whole system was.

"There are other ships in the fleet where you could live, too," she told Erin. "So don't worry. For now, while you get better, you'll stay on Galactica and we'll work something out for afterwards."

"Will we see you anymore once we leave?" Kara was momentarily stunned into silence.

"Well…I've got a lot of work that I do here…but maybe sometimes, depending upon what ship you're on, I can come see you if I do transport runs." Erin smiled. "Go to sleep, okay? I'll come see you tomorrow."

* * *

TBC... 


	3. Chapter 3

When Lee got back to the bunks that evening, Kara was lying on her stomach in her rack, playing a game of solitary triad. "You okay?" he asked her.

"Mmm-hmm."

Lee sighed; even if it was going to take a fight, he'd get the information he wanted out of her. "So how many other things did you leave out of your report on Caprica?" he asked, knowing full-well that he sounded just flippant enough to set her off.

"Excuse me?" Kara asked, sitting up.

"We both know what I'm talking about, Kara." Her eyes flashed dangerously, and Lee hoped he wasn't about to get punched again.

"Are we back to this?" she shot, getting up. "You want to know if I frakked him? Yeah, I did, and I don't regret it. So if you're going to get all territorial on me again, do me a favor and do it some other time."

"Did you love him?" Lee asked, his voice quiet and – he hoped – sincere. Kara sized him up for a moment.

"I might have..."

"I'm sorry, then."

Kara scoffed, sitting back down. "Yeah, sure, Lee."

"I'm serious. I don't take pleasure in seeing you hurt."

"Because you love me, right?" she couldn't help throwing in his face. She'd expected he would get fed up with her at some point and leave, but he surprised her.

"Yeah," Lee admitted, "Because you're the best friend I've got left."

"I don't want your pity."

"Well, that's good because I'm not giving you any. Just some company. Do you want to play cards?"

Kara smiled. "I am playing cards," she dryly told him.

"With me, you brat. You always say that taking my money never gets old."

"Your money is worth less and less by the day. If we're playing, we'll play for something else."

"Like what?" Lee was almost afraid to ask. Kara just grinned.

* * *

Kara spoke to Adama about her concerns with putting Erin and Lachel on the orphan ship. Everyone in the fleet knew about them - they had survived life after the end - and the medical team operating on an Aquarian Liner offered to take in the sisters. They could continue to be treated and monitored for signs of radiation sickness. It seemed like a good solution.

"I heard the ship is really nice," Kara told Erin when she visited the girls the next day. "There are doctors there that will take care of you, and other families with kids."

"Will you come?"

"Well, I'm going to fly you over there...and I bet you'll be so busy settling in that you won't even have time to think about me."

"Is that a no?" Erin flatly asked. Kara smiled.

"It's an 'I don't know'. I'll try, though, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

The only thing she hadn't realized was how hard saying goodbye would be. Erin looked like she was trying to be brave, but as friendly as the doctors in her new home were, she was still being dumped in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. She'd had a lot of that lately, and Kara felt bad for doing it to her again. 

Lee was waiting for her when the Raptor she and Helo had flown over to the Aquarian Liner returned to Galactica. "How'd it go?" he asked. Something about his tone told her that he was only asking out of politeness – no one understood what survivors of Caprica had been through unless they'd been on the planet themselves.

"Fine," she replied. "You, me, rec room, tonight?" she asked Helo, turning back to see him leaning against the frame of the Raptor's hatch.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there after I visit…" He noticed Lee's eyes harden; their resident Cylon was not a topic of discussion when the CAG was around. "I'll be there at 1800," he amended.

"What's at 1800?" Lee asked Kara as they walked off the deck together.

"Nothing, just a little one-on-one game."

"So that's where the pyramid ball came from?" Lee asked, hating how easily the jealousy was slipping into his voice. Kara didn't waste energy dignifying it; as he continued walking towards his office, she wordlessly turned and headed for the bunkroom.

* * *

For Kara, life on Galactica had a rhythm that she'd missed during her time on Caprica. Morning runs, structured shifts…in her absence, her nuggets had grown into pilots – inexperienced and often brash, but they were still pilots. Lee had mentioned bringing in a new group which was just now finishing up basic flight with a civilian instructor elsewhere in the fleet. Everything was always busy, but it had a routine.

When Adama received a call from the captain of the Aquarian Liner, the simplicity ended. There was a problem on the ship, concerning Erin and Lachel, but the captain wouldn't explain further until someone from Galactica – preferably someone who'd brought the girls from Caprica – came over to his ship. Kara and Lee were easy choices. By the time the pair arrived on the Liner, Kara's annoyance matched the level of Lee's curiosity. Being summoned without choice and without being given a reason didn't sit well with her.

"You've got guards on them?" she snapped at the doctor that had met them and their tag-along marines in the shuttle bay and led them through the ship. Two men with the only weapons they could scrounge up – handguns – were standing outside of the door they'd arrived at.

"We thought it best if…we didn't know if…" Unsure how to finish either of those sentences, the doctor simply opened the door and gestured for them to enter. Kara recognized the little golden head that was bowed and therefore just barely peeking over the table that was in the middle of the room.

"Erin, are you okay?" she asked as she started to step toward the chair the child was sitting in. "Is Lachel?" She froze mid-step, however, when another little girl – an absolutely identical little girl – stood up from her place on the floor behind the first.

"Actually," she said, "I'm Erin." Kara was frozen.

"We noticed yesterday when Lachel's mental development began to advance," the doctor explained. "But the physical change was literally overnight."

"They're Cylons," Lee stated, but Kara shook her head.

"No, they're half-breeds. Aren't you?" she asked the girls. Lachel was quietly focused on the tabletop, but Erin stared levelly back at her without saying a word. "You were born at a farm? Little Cylon science projects." The 'older' of the girls stepped forward, her face perfectly calm.

"We are the next step."

* * *

TBC... 

Should I keep going? Feedback is welcome


	4. Chapter 4

thanks for the reviews I've gotten so far. I'll try to keep posting the rest of the chapters every day or two.

* * *

Once bound in handcuffs (which everyone knew wouldn't actually hold the girls if they wanted to escape), everyone loaded back into the Raptor and headed for Galactica. The marines got the job of tossing them into a holding cell in the brig while Kara and Lee headed for Adama's office.

"Do we know what their capabilities are?" the Commander asked the pair.

"No one's gotten a demonstration, yet," Lee replied. "They've been cooperative."

"If they really are human/Cylon half-breeds, I want to know exactly how different and how similar they are to us. We need to be able to detect them, as well, amid the fleet."

"I doubt it's possible there are any others in the fleet," Kara replied. "They would have had to have made it off the colonies somehow and joined us after the attack."

"Never say never," was all Adama replied.

* * *

The buzz was all over the ship pretty fast. "I heard the Cylon detector doesn't even work on them," a Viper pilot called Stinger commented the next evening as he, Racetrack, Kat, and Hotdog played cards in the mess hall.

"There's gotta be some way to tell them apart," Hotdog replied. "I mean, one of them went from a toddler to a kid in a day. That's not natural."

"Call," Racetrack piped up.

"I guess that'll be the end of missions to the colonies," Kat added. "Every time someone lands there, more toasters come back with them."

"At least this time, they're only some random kids," Stinger replied. "Not one of our own frakking officers."

"You ever wonder whose kids they are?" Hotdog asked. "I mean, the fact that they're half-breeds means some human took part in making them."

"Someone told me they said they had human mothers," Racetrack supplied. "Instead of a Cylon bitch, they take one of us, surgically knock her up, and the process of creating the next generation of toasters kills her."

"You're lying," Stinger accused. She shook her head.

"Ask Starbuck. She was in one of their special little hellholes. Farms, I think she called them."

"They tried knocking her up with a Cylon?" Kat asked. Racetrack shrugged.

"That's information that no one seems to be able to get."

* * *

Kara wasn't sure what drove her to finally make a visit to the brig. Erin and Lachel both looked up when she came in the door, and while the former got up and approached the bars, the latter didn't make a move from her seat on the floor in a corner.

"I told you she would come," Erin mockingly told her 'sister.' "She made a promise."

"Don't expect me to make a habit of this," Kara shot back. "I just…What was your purpose?"

"We are the first, but we won't be the last." Kara looked over to Lachel. While Erin was standing her ground, confident, the 'younger' of the two was intently focused on the floor.

"You talk?" Kara asked her. Lachel looked up.

"Yes," her little voice replied, but a sharp look from Erin made her bow her head once more.

"I see," Kara commented. "You've got all the answers, she just looks cute." She didn't like the smile she received. "Then again, I guess I can't blame you for being mad at her; she did kinda blow your cover, huh?"

"You returned to Caprica earlier than expected. The…determination of the resistance force almost ruined our plan." Kara frowned.

"They knew? They knew you were the reason behind the attack?"

"It was that fortunate none of them lived long enough to warn you."

"They were all killed so that you could be planted?"

"They had to be," she easily replied. "We knew you would return for us, Kara."

"I did not come back for you. We came to help the resistance and take back survivors of your genocide." Erin just smiled, a little hand snaking between the bars outreached toward the pilot. Kara stepped back, but the child didn't even flinch.

"Even if you can't admit it, we were your reason for coming back. You returned because of what was taken from you." A finger extended, pointing towards her stomach. Kara swore she felt a tiny spark of pain from her scar, the one whose origins she refused to admit to herself. "You returned for what was taken from you." They held each other's gaze for a long moment. Dread washed over.

Kara finally turned and quickly walked out the door. She barely noticed the guard in the hallway or the other people that she passed as she made her way at a near-run to the closest bathroom. Inside, she emptied the contents of her stomach and sank to the floor, shaking.

* * *

"I'm not exactly sure I understand what you're asking…"

The last place in the universe that Kara wanted to be was Gaius Baltar's office, and the very last thing she wanted to be doing was making the request that she was currently making.

"I want you to compare my DNA to that of Erin and Lachel's," she repeated.

"Uh-huh…May I ask why?" She shot him a look. "Right. I should probably inform Commander Adama – "

"No," Kara cut him off. "No, no one knows about this. That clear?"

Baltar smiled. "Crystal." Kara turned and left. "I suppose that would most especially go for Captain Adama," he muttered to himself.

"Why do you even bother, Gaius?" Six asked him. He pretended not to have heard.

"I suppose you know what this is all about?" he stated. She smiled.

"I'm on the edge of my seat."

"Mmm, I'm sure. This test will come out positive, won't it? She…" And then it hit him. "They're genetically her children." Six's grin grew.

"Give the doctor a prize."

* * *

TBC... 


	5. Chapter 5

Kara's day definitely didn't improve when she got the results back. She'd promised herself that she wasn't going back down to the brig again, but wound up doing it anyway.

"Did you get the answers you were hoping for?" Erin smugly asked when she saw her come into the brig. Kara chose not to answer.

"What are you doing here? No, I've got one better than that: how are you here? Because I wasn't in that frakking Farm long enough ago for you to exist."

"For humans," Erin replied with a smile. "You'd be amazed what technology can do."

"So you keep skipping along towards adulthood at light-speed and then what? Does it slow down? Or are you supposed to have a lifespan of a month?"

"Our destiny will be fulfilled," was her only answer.

Lachel was quietly sitting on her bed, watching her 'sister'. "Does that go for you, too?" Kara asked her. "You are allowed to speak, you know."

"D-Destiny is what drives everything. You, me, her…"

Erin rolled her eyes. "Her human bitch was in the radiation too long. Messed her up in the head."

Kara smirked. "Price you pay for being Farm babies."

"You can't fight fate, Kara. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. You can't ignore your role in that."

"Don't start quoting scripture to me."

"Why not, Mother?" Kara's fist was itching to shoot forward and make contact with her grinning face, but she held her temper in check.

"If they had actually knocked me up with you," she told the little girl, "I would have killed us both."

Erin laughed. "Don't you think that they thought of that themselves?"

"If we don't find a reason to keep you here, you're going out an airlock," Kara shot back. "Actually, I might see to it that you wind up going out an airlock no matter what. Do half-breeds upload upon death?" Erin didn't reply, but her wicked grin dimmed by a few watts.

Satisfied, Kara turned and left, but not before catching a glimpse of the haunted hazel eyes that had been watching the interchange from the corner of the cell.

* * *

"You're actually going to try interrogating them?" Kara incredulously asked Adama as she, Lee, Tigh, and Roslin sat in the Commander's office. "Their track record with the truth isn't all that great." 

"Noted," Adama replied. "But, however they seem, they are children, and they could be useful resources. They should have a chance to prove their lives are worth keeping."

"So what, are we just going to start a Cylon collection down in the brig?" Kara snapped. Lee put a hand on her arm, silently warning her that she needed to get it under control before someone else had to do it audibly. Everyone in the room was aware of the circumstances, but that still only allowed so much leniency for her temper.

"It was the Cylons' plan all along to have them get picked up by the fleet," Roslin pointed out. "Trusting them and keeping them around may be a luxury we can't afford." Adama nodded.

"I know…there are the facts and there are our feelings and right now isn't the time to act rashly. I'm assigning Lieutenant Agathon to oversee the team that talks with them; hopefully that will ensure things don't get out of control. Kara…I could order you to keep your distance, but by Colonial law – "

"Separate them," Kara broke in. "You might actually get a few words out of Lachel that way." She met 'the Old Man's eyes. "I don't want or need to be there." Adama nodded.

* * *

Lachel looked up from the lose string she'd pulled from her shirt and started playing with when she heard a loud bang on the other side of her cell. The tray that had held their breakfast earlier in the morning had been thrown through the bars at the wall beyond. 

"She promised she would come," Erin muttered. "She can't ignore us; we're part of her."

"That was before," Lachel quietly said.

"What?"

"She promised she would come before she knew the truth."

"She always knew the truth. They all always knew the truth. Something was off – they could sense that, they just wouldn't let themselves admit it."

"She doesn't love you. She never will."

"Love is a weakness. It's human."

"Twelve's child is love," Lachel pointed out.

"Twelve is flawed. We were the first. We survived. Destiny always comes to pass. No one can run from it." Erin smiled to herself, turning away from her sister. "They'll all see. Fate cannot be escaped – we can't let it be."

"What are you going to do?"

"The traitors will pay. They'll learn that they have no choice but to accept what is to come."

* * *

Helo was not looking forward to the task to which he'd been assigned. He knew that Kara's experience in the Caprican Farm had bothered her a hell of a lot more than she let on, and having the products of that show up on their ship wasn't making anything easier. He'd heard from the marines that had been guarding the children that Erin was Cylon to the core while Lachel was a mystery. They weren't sure if there really were a few crossed wires in her head or if her 'sister' was simply a force she couldn't overpower.

It was a bit unnerving, the way Erin just stared at the marines as they entered the brig and unlocked her cell. It was almost as though she didn't even see the gun that was trained on her head, making sure she didn't try anything while the marines got Lachel. The younger of the two was pushed as far back into a corner as she could go; the first man who went to grab her couldn't get to budge.

"Get her fingers off the bars," he called to one of the others.

"We're not going to hurt you," Helo tried to explain to her. "We're just going to go talk." Erin studied him for a long moment before turning to her sister.

"Let go," she ordered, and after a moment of hesitation, Lachel's fingers released the metal that caged them. "Tell them what they ask – you'll see the truth." Helo didn't stop to ask what that was supposed to mean, he just followed the marines and Lachel out of the brig.

* * *

"What was your purpose in the fleet?"

Lachel had yet to meet the eyes of anyone that was questioning her. She was pretty sure that if she wanted to, she could have gotten out the door of the conference room without anyone being able to stop her, but there wasn't much point – there wasn't anywhere for her to escape to.

"We were just supposed to be here."

"Were you supposed to gather intelligence? You sending data back home?"

"No. We were just supposed to be here. They didn't care if you knew."

That threw Helo for a loop. "We were supposed to find out the truth about what you are?" he asked for himself, not caring that he wasn't supposed to interrupt.

"Part of our destiny is just to be. Just to exist."

"And what's the other part?" That didn't receive an answer. "How much do you know about Cylon plans? What information do you have access to?"

"Not a lot, not yet…Erin knows more."

"Have you always known what you were doing, or were you a sleeper agent when you were younger?"

"I always knew. I wish I'd been a sleeper."

"Why is that?" She shrugged slightly.

"It might have been nice to get to pretend."

* * *

TBC... (the blue button says "push me." please? pretty please? sugar and cherries on top.) 


	6. Chapter 6

"Is it my turn now?" Erin asked as they returned to the brig about an hour later and began putting Lachel back into the cell. "Did she tell you everything you wanted? Did you believe her?"

"You can make my life easy," Helo told her, coming to stand before her outside of her little cage. "Tell me right now that you've got nothing of worth to say, and this can be over with quick." Erin smiled up at him.

"You're all the same," she said. The next thing Helo knew, he was looking at the barrel of his own gun. Kara had warned him about strength and reflexes, but Sharon had never demonstrated her abilities against him, and he'd underestimated the child that looked like she wanted nothing more at the moment than to kill him.

In a move so fast it would have been missed if the one observing were to blink, suddenly the gun had disappeared from Erin's hand and was flying across the room to clatter to the floor. Lachel had her double by the throat, her own glare meeting a look of surprise. "You're not going to hurt anyone," she commanded.

Erin quickly knocked her lose and went to retrieve her weapon. Lachel grabbed her, and they were soon in a desperate struggle with each other for power. The marines tried to step in, but one of them wound up being knocked to the ground when he got in the middle – this was strictly something between the two half-breeds. A few drops of blood hit the floor after a particularly well-delivered punch, and a noise of pain could be heard from one of them after a good kick to the ribs.

"With any luck, they'll kill each other," one of the marines muttered, barely audibly.

A moment later, there was a distinct crack, the sound of a neck being snapped. Erin's body hit the floor like a bag of wet cement. Lachel was left standing – barely – though beaten and bruised. Her eyes met those of the men that were watching, then rolled up in her head as she, too, collapsed to the ground.

The guards were finally able to rush forward. "She's dead," one of them told Helo after checking Erin.

He nodded. "Call for a med team for the other one. And get Dee to pass the word for Kara Thrace to get down here."

* * *

According to Sharon, Cylons – even half-breeds – didn't get sick. It was therefore extremely puzzling when Lachel remained unconscious for hours, her body barely in a state to keep her alive. Was her survival connected to her sister's? Had she triggered some hidden program that was now acting as a self destruct? Doc Cottle and Baltar both worked on finding answers, and the outcome thrilled no one.

"She's dying?" Adama asked his ship's Cheif Medical Officer as they met in the Commander's office.

"She's suffering from highly accelerated cell-breakdown. Whatever they did to her, it was more than her body could handle, even if she is half-Cylon. Pretty soon her organs will no longer be able to sustain her."

"Why didn't the same thing happen with the other one?"

"From what we could tell on the autopsy, she wasn't aged in the same manner. She grew years in days, yes, but not years in one night. Erin probably would have eventually succumbed to the effects as well."

"There's nothing that can be done to save her?"

Cottle snorted. "The toasters frakked her up but good."

"Was that a yes or a no, Major?"

He frowned. "Wasn't she supposed to be going out an airlock anyway?"

"A yes or a no?"

Cottle finally shook his head. "Even if it was possible to do something for her, it would take more time than what we've got to figure out what."

"How long have we got?"

"At this rate? A day. Maybe two at best."

"Does she know?"

"I didn't tell her, but yeah, she knew when she woke up."

Adama nodded. "What about Lieutenant Thrace?"

"What about her?"

"Nothing. I'll take care of it. Thank you, Doctor." Cottle nodded and left. Adama picked up his phone. "Dee, please put out an alert for Lieutenant Thrace to report to my office."

* * *

Adama was reading through some reports when the knock on his hatch sounded and Kara stepped through the door. "You wanted to see me?" she asked him.

"Yes. Have a seat." She looked at him warily for a moment before complying. "I just spoke with Doc Cottle about Lachel."

She sighed, seemingly un-impressed. "Is she going in the brig, or out an airlock?"

"Kara…she's not going to leave the Life Station." That got her attention.

"Why not?"

"The Cylons overestimated what her body could handle. She is half human, and whatever they did to her to cause her to age so quickly…she won't survive it." Kara nodded, and Adama could practically see the steel wall she was building around herself.

"Was that all, Sir?" she asked him, standing up. Adama stood as well, stepping out from behind his desk.

"Kara…you felt something for her at one point – "

"I felt sorry for her. I thought she was an innocent little kid that had been put through hell. Not some freak Cylon mad scientist creation!"

"Whether or not you want to admit it, that little girl has half of your genes." Kara turned to leave, not caring whether she'd been dismissed yet or not. "Lieutenant," Adama snapped, hating that he had to resort to pulling rank. "I know you never saw yourself ending up in this position, but we aren't always asked what we want in life…And you won't have to deal with this situation for very long. Make sure that however you choose to deal with it, you won't regret it later…This is something far more important than your loyalties to the fleet, or to me, or to this ship. This is something you'll have to carry the rest of your life."

Kara was silent for a long moment. "How long does she have?" she finally asked.

"A couple days at most." She nodded, and then left the office.

* * *

Kara took a deep breath, steeling herself, before pushing back the curtain that was in front of her. It had taken a day for her to get up nerve, and still was only there because she knew time was running out, but at least she was actually at the Life Station. Lachel looked up from her place on the bed upon hearing her visitor approach. 

"Hey," Kara said, her voice not much more than a whisper.

"Hi."

Kara shut the curtain back and moved to the side of the bed. "I brought something for you." From behind her back, she produced a small stuffed animal.

"What is it?"

That threw the pilot for a bit of a loop. "It's a stuffed animal." When no recognition showed, "A dog. With all the knowledge in your head, the Cylons didn't teach you about dogs?" Lachel shook her head, but reached for the toy. "They're animals we have – animals that we used to have on the colonies. People would keep them as pets."

"Pets?"

"Yeah, like…a friend."

"But they're a different species."

"Yeah. That's the whole point of a pet."

Lachel considered that. "Cylons were like pets once."

"Yeah, I guess they were. But dogs didn't wipe out 99.99 percent of the human species."

"It's cute," the little girl said.

"I just thought…I thought you should have some idea of what being a human child is like. Even if…"

"Even if it's not for very long?"

"Yeah."

Lachel smiled slightly. "I'm not scared, Kara. I don't care that there isn't another body waiting for me. It's better this way. It's more like you."

"That's all you wanted, huh?"

The child looked down, focusing on the blanket that covered her lap. Silence reigned for a long moment. "Will you stay with me?" she finally, quietly asked. Kara watched her for a moment, then motioned for Lachel to scoot over and sat beside her on the bed.

"I'll stay as long as you do," she whispered. Lachel curled up at her side, and the pilot couldn't help thinking that something vital was about to be taken away from her, and far too soon.

* * *

Lachel had lost consciousness by the time that Lee arrived a few hours later, peering at his best friend and her little Cylon child through the gap in the curtain. He never would have believed that the infamous Starbuck could be so domestic if he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes.

"Hey," he quietly said. Kara looked up.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to be with you."

"This is my problem, Lee."

"Yeah, well, I'm not letting you be here alone. Deal with it." He sat down in the chair by the bed.

"She could have grown up here," Kara quietly said without looking at him. "She just wanted to be like us. She and Erin were different."

"You probably would have had her in a Viper in a few years." Kara shook her head.

"No. I would have made sure she went to school on one of the ships somewhere. She knew so much and so little at the same time."

"She probably would have liked being with other children."

"I've been sitting here thinking about it...I'm actually wishing she was more of a Cylon, that she had another body somewhere for her, so that she wouldn't...I didn't want her, Lee. I still don't think I want her. But I would have done anything for her. She did the same for us."

A machine let off a long, steady pulse instead of continuous beeps, and a few technicians came into the room. They checked Lachel over, but everyone knew there was nothing to be done. Kara jumped when Lee's hand landed on her shoulder.

"Come on," he told his best friend. "It's over. Let me take you back to the bunkroom." She hesitated, looking down at the small body in her arms, before finally starting to get up. After a long moment, she let Lachel's hand slip from her own, and followed Lee out of the Life Station.


	7. Epilogue

Slowly, two hazel eyes opened.

A dirty-blonde girl looked around to find herself in unfamiliar surroundings. "Where am I?"

A man came into her view. _Leoben_, a little voice in the back of her mind told her, even though she'd never seen him before in her life. "Welcome home, Lachel," he said. To his right, another girl came into view. Somehow, Lachel knew she was staring at a mirror of herself.

"Erin…" A small, perhaps dangerous smile crossed her face, and instantly made her 'sister' uneasy. Their history had not been forgotten.

"I trust that you two will play nice," Leoben told them. "It is regrettable that your experiment did not produce the desired results, but we will try again. We still have a more important objective to achieve, another child to bring home. This time we will not fail."

Erin smiled up at the man that had treated her like a daughter since she'd awoken. "By your command," she told him. Lachel felt like something else was also waking up inside her, now that she'd regained consciousness. She didn't like it.

"By your command," she echoed her 'sister' without really being sure why. And she knew things would never be the same again.

* * *

Fin. 

Unless I do a sequel...I'm considering it.


End file.
